Ryan Huska is entering his fourth year of coaching behind the bench for the Flames. Throughout his time coaching the Flames, they have not been able to make the playoffs, and they don’t seem to be changing that streak anytime soon. Huska’s Flames teams have always played with a strong work ethic and have always looked to play hard to give stronger competition a tough night. For a team in the middle of a rebuild, this is a redeeming quality. Despite this, the team has always struggled to find offence with Huska behind the bench. With the team looking to start introducing its new young core to the team to hopefully build a future Stanley Cup contender, is Huska the long-term coach to guide them there? We asked, you answered.
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Is Huska the long-term solution?
We presented the poll below to our readers:
Huska is the long-term solution
If any coach in the league knows the Flames best, it is Huska. He has been around the organization and its players for years. He has seen the growing pains and what needs to be improved. Despite that, only 9% of our readers believe that Huska can be the coach that actually improves the team and leads them to success long-term. Since Huska has coached the Flames, they have been third-last in goals for per game played. The lack of offence has yet to be addressed. Although, to his credit, the roster has not been the best quality for a while now.
Huska is not the long-term solution
Most of our readers believe this is the case. Even with the stagnant offence, many fans have questioned his lineup deployment. The constant burying of Connor Zary, usage of depth defenders like Hanley, and what many would call mismanagement of young players has been a major blemish. These are not things that rebuilding teams want to have as issues, especially mismanaging young players. As the Flames look to add four new young players to their roster near the end of the year who look to be part of the future of the team, the organization cannot afford not to develop them properly.
Too early to tell
To be fair, we have never seen Huska coach a team with a high-quality roster. Could Huska’s coaching style and tactics work well with a Stanley Cup calibre roster? Maybe; we haven’t been able to see yet. Huska could be a long-term solution if the Flames were to ever reach that stage. However, the Flames must develop their players properly if they are to reach that stage. Right now, more questions remain about Huska’s impact on the players’ development than anything else.
A decision will need to be made eventually
As the organization will look to turn the page and start rising again, the Flames will need to take a step back and truly assess if Huska is the person who can guide the players to reach their full potential. This will be a major turning point for the team once this decision is made.
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